A person with no governing experience and bigoted rhetoric should be a fringe candidate. Right?
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When Donald Trump emerged as the umpteenth candidate from the proverbial Republican clown car of presidential hopefuls, few people took him seriously. After all, this was the same guy who questioned Barack Obama’s United States citizenship.
Say what you will about the other candidates—and there is plenty to say—but the majority of them have some experience at governing and policy-making.
Trump has none.
His candidacy announcement was littered with the sort of chest thumping rhetoric more aptly reserved for the local watering hole than an event garnering international media attention. But when a majority of people feel like the country needs to be taken back (From what? And whom?), candidates like Trump get a second look.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump boomed during his speech. “They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
As Latino political power grows, it runs counter to conventional wisdom to insult a group of people with the ability to make candidates pay at the ballot box. Whether Trump comes close to sniffing the nomination or not is unknown; what we know, is that his message is resonating. Early polls have Trump at the top of the crowded pack. He’s found a sea of supporters to turn out to events in Las Vegas and Phoenix. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering both cities have wrestled with immigration policies for years.
Donald Trump’s rise in presidential politics represents an inconvenient truth for a Republican Party with an overwhelmingly white face in an overwhelmingly brown world: That unapologetic bigotry reaches far across the party landscape. The Donald is not an anomaly or a fringe candidate. He’s in the top tier of candidates.
He’s found support among the likes of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who called himself a “big fan,” while former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says Trump is merely “telling it like it really, truly is.” Whatever one thinks of Cruz and Brewer’s remarks, both have won statewide elections, suggesting that Trump’s bigoted and reckless bravado plays well somewhere.
This isn’t about a broader, and necessary, conversation on immigration, it’s about the way we treat those deemed “not like us.” When a man can disparage an entire group of people as criminals and rapists and be rewarded for it with high poll numbers, what does that say about the country? Michael Cohen, spokesperson for the Trump’s campaign believes, “Donald Trump is actually the voice of the silent majority, and I think he’s awoken that silent majority.”
A party of true inclusion would simply not stand for such speech from a candidate it is now forced to take seriously. Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus allegedly told Trump to, “tone it down.” (a story Trump refuted). A request to “tone it down” is not a rebuke. It is not a condemnation in even the most tepid sense of the word. It is tacit, if not explicit approval. That Trump was able to avoid widespread condemnation for blatant bigotry, but was immediately smacked down for mocking John McCain’s military service speaks volumes.
Donald Trump’s diatribe against Latinos rips the bandage off a wounded GOP brand when it comes to relating to people of color. In a country that loves to peg itself as a bastion of equality and where being labeled a racist can destroy a person’s life, Trump’s prejudiced grandstanding proves problematic for more than just the Republican Party.
It’s unlikely that Trump speaks for the majority of Americans, but he does, in this moment, speak for a majority of polled Republicans. In this moment, Trump is their champion. And in this moment, the champion commands our attention if for no other reason than somebody likes what he has to say.
All signs point to The Donald doing what The Donald does best: bowing out when things get serious. Trump may not be a serious candidate, but in this moment, he’s playing one on TV. And that’s the danger of political theater. When the rubber meets the road, the country needs serious leaders with serious solutions. When Trump decides running for office isn’t fun anymore, he’ll go back to something more lucrative and less-attention seeking for a time.
As for the rest of America, we’ll be left with the fallout from Trump’s words and deeds. The scary part is not that Donald Trump, a man with a history of offensive statements, has been offensive.
It’s that he’s given voice to a group of people who thrive on poisoning the well of civil discourse.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
BTW I want AJ to know I don’t think he’s a bad guy at all. I like his intelligence and writing. I just think he’s been overly influenced, being young and views from his perhaps own experiences, which of course is fine. But it will be interesting to see those changed withore experience to he added to. Intelligent people always process experiences and can discern better than stupids. And we have sn enormous amount of stupids here in the greatest educated opportunity country that has EVER existed on this planet. And based on tedults, that probably coming to and end… Read more »
Not if you follow my point, Tom. Then it becomes more clear. The vets represent The Man. The mythical beast they are taught to kill at all cost, under the guise of humanitarianism, and right thinking, and care for all. But they do not care for all, just who they deem worthy of it. And currently that means the illegals. They are just poor people trying to live happy lives. Of course they are but you’ll notice they don’t for communist of happiness in their own countries. Nope they go where 6hey know general happiness already exists, which the left… Read more »
Y’know, just writing this gavee another thought why the left is supporting this maybe rooted in their philosophy is the idea of taking from anyone an time they feel the imperative to do so. Hence taking power, taking and redistribution of personal property, invading farms that they feel are inhumane, trespassing on forested lands, etc etc. They are filled with some self deluded sense of moral and ethical superiority and will not tolerate anything else but that, because they are fighting for Right, so how could they possibly be wrong? That has been going on since the 60’s and maybe… Read more »
Totally agree with you Mark. These people are fleeing from a country where we spend countless dollars vacationing in.
Our personal property much less lives mean less in our country then the ones coming here illegally. We have vets that are lacking services yet many who come here illegally can receive better heath care … confuses the hell out of mne
Can anyone tell me why we’re even really having this conversation about, not like us, or haters or whatever, and why the left is so insistent on allowing illegals into this country in the first place. We have laws on immigration. It is not nor ever has been intended to be a free for all for any reason. We specifically allowed the hmong in for political reasons, have quotas specifically for general population in this case millions came across, the government doesn’t respond to its own laws and the left supports it all. That makes absolutely no sense to me.… Read more »
My wife is Mexican, her single mom of two came here legally. Worked picking vegetables in fields, retired as a factory worker My wife totally agrees that something has to be done. As do many Mexicans who are here legally, who did it the right way.
And BTW, she really really hates the term “Latino” or “Hispanic” in that she is MEXICAN and resents people clumping her in with Guatemalans, Puerto Ricans, Cubin etc. Each have their own history and culture and it’s a slap in the face. It’s like calling someone from Jamaica, African.
And before I forget, although my wife is rich in Mexican heritage, she refers to herself as “American.” That’s what her mom worked so hard to achieve, a good life in America as an American. My wife and her brother were given no free rides. There was no discussion about schools accommodating their language struggles. And although she didn’t learn English until first grade. she’s fluent in written and spoken Mexican and English (yes, Mexican language is not Spanish). I would challenge the average born and raised American to go toe to toe with my wife on the English language,… Read more »